Nash Island TIDE Voe Vest

Nash Island TIDE Voe Vest on it's maiden voyage.  Modeled by Captain Matthew at the helm of the Schooner Olad.

I am always eager to start knitting with a freshly spun batch of yarn, so as soon as this spring's new batch of Nash Island TIDE was spun and dyed I cast on for a summer knitting adventure in stranded color work.  As with fine wines, each batch of yarn spun possess it's own subtle notes and unique characteristics based on the annual weather, nutrients, and environmental condition's influence on the wool harvested.  The Spring 2017 Nash Island TIDE has a wonderful soft lofty feel that blooms beautifully after blocking creating the perfect stranded fabric.  It's a very good vintage.

Yarn : Nash Island TIDE         Pattern : Mary Jane Mucklestone Voe Vest 

I went right to my favorite source for color work knitting patterns and found the perfect pattern match for Nash Island TIDE in Mary Jane Mucklestone's Voe Vest pattern.  It is knit in traditional Fair Isle style, in the round with steeks.  I loved the easy knitting rhythm of the motifs and found that after the first two sets I was able to knit without referring to the pattern chart.  The only changes I made to the pattern was to use 6 colors instead of  Mary Jane's version which uses 7 colors, and I added one extra motif pattern to lengthen the body.  (knitting and pattern particulars are on my Ravelry page).  

Sunset cruise on the Schooner Olad ~ Camden, Maine

This vest was a surprisingly quick knit! Which leaves me with one small but enjoyable conundrum... summer has only just {finally} begun here in Maine and I have already finished my summer knitting project.  What shall I knit next?  I'm thinking maybe a small knitting project like a hat to work on aboard my next sailing adventure on the Schooner Olad with Captain Matthew.

SPRING! Tide's In!

Acer rubrum ~ Red Maple

Having grown weary of the long monochromatic winter, my eyes hunger for color this time of year.  As the new season unfolds, I find myself on a quest to seek out the emerging color moments that harbinger spring.  Not the deep lush colors of summer, not the vibrant last hurrah colors of autumn, but those innocent soft colors of spring.  This year I am particularly enamored with the colors offered up by the buds of trees. Although upstaged by showy spring bulbs, trees offer subtle color en masse and inspiring hues up close. 

Lonicera canadensis ~ Fly Honeysuckle Bush

Salix ~ Willow

Populus tremuloides ~ Quaking Aspen

Inspired by all the new spring color, I am eager to get the dye pots going this week and prepare some TIDE colors to take to the island next week for *lambing season* knitting.

Very fortuitous since there is a new batch of Nash Island TIDE yarn ready and waiting for skeining and dyeing.

Starcroft ~ Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And also fortuitous that I just finished this Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone to take to the island with me next week to collect beach treasures during *lambing season*.

Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone in Starcroft Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And did I mention that next week begins *lambing season* on the island? My absolute favorite time of the year ~ SPRING! LAMBS! Tide's in and I'm headed out to the island....

Fibertrek Wool Scouts Retreat

We all need to take some time for ourselves.  Now more than ever.  Time to disconnect, seek solitude, immerse in nature, recharge our energies, reground.

Just imagine... climbing into a float plane and leaving chaos behind as you lift off above the tree tops and head into the Great North Woods of Maine.

Just imagine... flying over the peak of majestic Katahdin Mountain as your pilot names every peak, lake, and river that flow past beneath you and tells of their history and lore.

Just imagine... gliding to a landing on the surface of Munsungan Lake and stepping out onto the awaiting dock of the only habitation on the lake and 3.5 million acres of wilderness forest surrounding you.

Just imagine... being warmly greeted by the wonderful hosts of Bradford Camps and made welcome to this quintessential vintage Maine sporting camp.

Just imagine... plunking your gear down in your cabin and meeting our cabin mates before grabbing your knitting and heading out to the porch to catch the last rays of sunset and settle yourself in to camp mode.

Just imagine... the stars and the silence.  Such silence that you can hear the ripples of a fish breaking water as you drift off to sleep.

Just imagine... slipping your toes into the cool lake at dawn before plunging in for a quick swim with the trout before breakfast.

Just imagine... delicious home cooked food fresh from the garden eked out of the wilderness.

Just imagine... days filled with fellowship, learning new skills ~ how to start a fire with flint and steel to set your dye pot to boil, how to read a compass to find your way, primitive storage for your knitting sundries, knitting a pair of traditional Maine mittens.

Just imagine... paddling the lake at sunset, lakeside fire chats in the evenings, and long walks in the woods ~ leaning-in to your hand craft among the trees and filling your soul with fresh air and the scent of pine and balsam.

Just imagine... THEN DO!

Join Wool Guides Sarah Hunt, Mary Jane Mucklestone, Sarah Lake, and myself for the incredible Fibertrek Wool Scout Retreat, August 13-17, 2017 at Bradford Camps in the Great North Woods of Maine on beautiful Munsungan Lake.

For information click HERE, or contact fibertrek@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Fall Round-up

Fall round-up on the islands, the event that for me marks the end of the growing season, and the final chore to get done before hunkering down for winter.  This year a gray, but thankfully warm and calm day makes the task a bit easier.  

Round-up in the fall is quite different from spring round-up.  It is deliciously quiet.  The lambs are bigger, the ewes calmer, so there is less of the frantic baaing, just the occasional 'those people are here again' baa.  And the sea gulls are gone taking with them their constant cacophony of complaining. 

The lambs are almost as big as the ewes now, making for a very full coral.  Our task is to sort out the 'long tails' (the buck lambs) and check all the ewes to make sure they are healthy.  The buck lambs will be taken off the island for market and we will take a head count of the remaining ewes to ensure the proper balance of island pasture to sheep grazing.

Day two of fall round-up is warm, calm, and sunny.  The kind of island day that begs for lingering. Today's task is to retrieve the rams from their summer island and bring them to the mainland until they are needed for breeding. 

It's no small feat to wrestle two large rams into a boat while trying to stay clear of the rocks.  Thankfully the seas were calm.

Mainland bound with a boat load of sheep.  Amazingly these wild sheep are very clam and quite content to go for a boat ride.

The lobsterman are busy this time of year bringing in their traps so sometimes there is a bit of waiting and working around traps to unloaded sheep at the wharf.  

And just in case you were thinking this was an idyllic and glamorous chore, someone does have to swab the deck at the end of the day.

This is always a bitter sweet moment for me.  End of the season and a long winter ahead before lambing comes round again.  But I have a mill full of wool to keep me occupied while I dream of spring.

Nash Island by MJM

                                       Nash Island 

                         pattern by Mary Jane Mucklestone 

                                  Nash Island LIGHT yarn 

Last June my friend Mary Jane Mucklestone arrived on Nash Island to help with shearing, knitting in hand, as usual.  Nash Island Yarn, of course.  Wisely knowing a compact portable project makes for light dunnage (an essential for boat travel) Mary Jane was designing (on the needles, in the moment, on the island) a sweater knit flat in pieces. 

         Mary Jane designing with her muses, photo by Gale Zucker.

Nash Island is an old school Maine sweater, the kind we wear year round in all seasons. For hauling wood in winter to summer evenings on the lobster boat.  Nash Island is knit old school too, entirely flat, with the color work 'lice' happening only on the right side to make it easy.  With  modified drop shoulders and a lace up placket it's a comfortable everyday sweater.  With spring just around the corner, a Nash Island sweater will be the perfect portable project for my island lambing season knitting.  And maybe I'll get it done in time to wear to shearing!

Nash Island by Mary Jane Mucklestone is available on Ravelry.  Nash Island LIGHT yarn is available at Starcroft and at Clementine in Rockland. (We are currently spinning up more LIGHT yarn from the 2015 clip, more colors will be available soon!)

Starcroft Mill Monday

         FOG ready on the spinner. 

         Let the bobbin filling begin. 

      ...and at the other end of the mill... 

For the past several years we have been working on improving the breeding on one of the islands to produce natural colored fleeces. Last year was our first clip of beautiful dark brown fleeces.  I just finished skirting all the fleeces and washing will commence this week in preparation for a NEW yarn in the works for release early this summer!

TTY w TTL

Two more completed in my Through The Year with Through The Loops shawl project. 

ziggity ~ Nash Island FOG in spruce and single ply handspun wool/silk in shades of cove. 

moulin rouge ~ deadman's fingers from highlands on the fly. 

Winter Expedition

new year. new journey. setting off on an expedition.

expedition (n.) 1. an excursion, journey or voyage made for some specific purpose or exploration. 

This expedition is inspired by Sarah of Fibertrek's Shackleton CAL which invites you to join a community of fellow explorers and challenge yourself to go beyond known boundaries to 

pursue that epic knitting/crafting project that will test your resilience and skills. An expedition requiring perseverance, thinking through obstacles, flexibility to change with circumstances and the courage to follow your passion into the great unknown. 

After much pondering, I have mapped out an itinerary, gathered in supplies and set forth.

Combining my love of islands and the sea, my passion for the art of hand knitting, and my curiosity for learning about ancient craft and ancestral roots my new year's journey is taking me to the islands of my ancestors to study their traditional hand knits.  First stop, Fair Isle for an exploration of pattern and color, then on to the Orkney's for a study in the structure and texture of the Gansey, and finally to Aran to traverse the interlacing intricacies of cables.  At journey's end ~ three hand knit pullovers steeped in tradition and a wealth of new knowledge and confidence.

What is your epic hand crafting challenge?  Where will your journeys take you this year? What new skills will you be exploring?

You can join in the Shackleton CAL adventures HERE and follow Fibertrek's expedition HERE.

Happy New Year and Bon Voyage!

Kanagawa KAL

                 Clockwise : Sea Star. Crustacean. Rockweed. Atlantic. 

Holiday gift knitting all done?  Settling in for a long winter's rest and wondering what to cast on next? How about joining Emily, Sonya, and Beverly (loveaslug , knitsonya , PoMoGolightly on Ravelry) for their KANAGAWA Mitten KAL?  Limited edition Nash Island TIDE POOLs are available at clementine and on our web store! Each colorway contains six mini skeins (60 yds each of 6 colors), the perfect amount to make a pair of KANAGAWA mittens by Through The Loops and have enough left over to make this great TRIG hat by Mary Lou Egan. 

The Kanagawa KAL will begin in January, after the holiday rush, as life quiets down and winter settles in.  You can order your KAL Tide Pool yarn HERE or HERE.  The Kanagawa mitten pattern is available HERE.  And the TRIG hat pattern is available HERE. And don't forget to post pics of your finished KAL projects on the Nash Island and Starcroft Fiber Fans Ravelry group page HERE.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Starcroft LIVE

Starcroft's new web store is live! Check out our new logo designed by Holly McBride.  

On Our Story page we share with you the history of Nash Island Wool and the making of Nash Island Yarns. 

On our Shop page you can fill your cart with Nash Island TIDE yarn...

and Nash Island FELTING WOOL for your holiday knitting and felting projects. 

With the website up and running and the house building in it's finishing stages I am looking forward to getting back to the mill and working on the 2015 clip after the holidays. First up is a batch of Nash Island FOG. I'll let you know as soon as it's ready!

Through the Year with Through the Loops

I've been terribly remiss with sharing my project 'Through the Year with Through the Loops'. Knitting these shawls has been my tiny oasis amidst the hustle of summer house construction and the bustle of fall gardening and winter prep. I'm ready for deep snow and long dark quiet nights filled with more Through the Loops shawl knitting. 

                                            JUNE ~ Nefertem

                                  indigo dyed handspun wool/silk

                                JULY ~ MKAL15  Liz Christy

                       handspun wool/silk & Nash Island FOG

                                         AUGUST ~  Vestry Street

                            handspun wool/silk & Done Roving yarn

                                          SEPTEMBER ~ Thalia

                                              handspun wool/silk

Shawl patterns by Kirsten Kapur ~ Through the Loops. You can purchase a paper copy of Kirsten's book - Kirsten Kapur Shawl Book One here, or a digital copy here.Check out Kirsten's other shawl patterns on Ravelry.

2015 Handspinning Fleeces for Sale

The 2015 Nash Island handspinning fleeces are ready! 

NEW this year we have six colored fleeces for sale!  After several years of working to improve the breeding stock on one of the smaller islands we are thrilled to finally be able to offer beautiful dark chocolate brown and dark gray fleeces along with our traditional 'fog-washed' pure white handspinning fleeces. 

Our Romney/Coopworth/Island Descendent fleeces average between 4 - 6 pounds each and cost $12.00 per pound. 

If you are interested in purchasing a Nash Island handspinning fleece please e-mail me at jani@starcroftfiber.com or call 207-852-0295. PLEASE NOTE : If you had previously e-mailed me about purchasing a 2015 fleece, please e-mail me again! (Due to a technical problem with my e-mail all my saved e-mails were erased :(

New Obsession

I have never encountered the obsession for knitting shawls until I saw this (gasp) and tumbled full-tilt into complete obsession. 

I must confess I had previously admired several of the shawls in this book draped across the back of a chair in a sunlit NYC apartment (the image still haunts me.) Perhaps that was the dawning of obsession.  This sweet little book by Kirsten Kapur of Through The Loops has become my constant traveling companion. 

I don't do fussy. I don't do complicated. But from the simple beginning through the rhythmic building of the main body to the grand finale of a touch of lace at the outer edge I am enamored with these shawls. 

In full obsession mode I will be knitting them all, a shawl a month (there are 10 in the book). It's lambing season on the island so while I watch lambs it's  Nefertem on the needles in a hand spun lamb & silk blend shibori hand dyed in indigo. For June I'll be joining the Through The Loops Mystery Shawl knit along, and then perhaps add one more from Kirsten's Ravelry shop to round out the year.

     

I was waiting for a new obsession. I love the thought of a collection of shawls. Perhaps when I'm not wearing them I'll drape them over a sunlit chair to simply admire. 

You can purchase a paper copy of Kirsten's book here, or a digital copy here. Join the June Mystery Shawl knit along here. Check out Kirsten's other shawl patterns on Ravelry.  Oh, and her Blog too!

And if the photos in the book lead you to yearning for more...check out Gale Zuckers blog!!

Calm before the (next) storm

The weather has been a bit difficult. Storm following storm following storm. Finally a brief calm morning to run out to the islands and check on the girls. 10 am launch, snow & wind due at 2 pm.

With temps hovering at +5, it's a bit of a wait for the motor to warm up. With the harbor frozen over, a beach launch on the lee side is necessary. 

A quick sweep of the hard packed snow covered island as dark clouds begin to roll in. 

Despite the white on white camouflage, all sheep are accounted for as they march to the shore for elevensies seaweed snack.  

And back to hot cocoa and warm fire as the first flakes of nor'easter # I've lost count descends. Comforted in the knowledge that all is well on the islands and in awe of those hardy island girls.